1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for printing a cloth by ink-jet system, and a print and a processed article obtained thereby.
2. Related Background Art
At present, textile printing is principally conducted by screen printing or roller printing. Both methods are however unfit for multi-kind small-quantity production and difficult to quickly cope with the fashion of the day. Therefore, there has recently been a demand for establishment of an electronic printing system making no use of any plate.
In compliance with this demand, many textile printing processes according to an ink-jet recording have been proposed. Various fields expect much from such textile printing processes.
As conditions required for ink-jet textile printing, mention may be made of the following:
(1) being able to achieve sufficient color depth upon coloring of ink; PA1 (2) being able to provide a print high in color yield of coloring matter on cloth and to conduct a waste water treatment after completion of washing with ease; PA1 (3) causing little irregular bleeding due to color mixing between inks of different colors on cloth; PA1 (4) being able to achieve color reproduction within a wide range; and PA1 (5) being able to always conduct stable production of prints. PA1 (a) applying at least two of the inks to the cloth in such a manner that at least a part of the two inks overlap each other; PA1 (b) subjecting the cloth, to which the inks have been applied, to a heat treatment; and PA1 (c) washing the heat-treated cloth,
In order to satisfy these requirements, it has heretofore been conducted principally to add various additives to ink, to control shot-in ink quantity, or to subject cloth to a pretreatment.
As an ink-jet printing method for cloth on which disperse dyes are used to conduct textile printing, for example, a polyester fabric, a method making use of disperse dyes having a sublimation temperature of 180.degree. C. or higher is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-118477. However, when textile printing is conducted with inks making use, as coloring matter, of the disperse dyes in which attention is paid to the sublimation temperature only, good coloring is achieved where the individual inks are used singly to dye, but the color depth and color tone after the dyeing, and color reproducibility upon dyeing under the same dyeing conditions greatly vary according to the combination of dyes used where the inks of different colors are mixed on the cloth, so that the above requirements (1), (4) and (5) are often not satisfied at the same time. Therefore, such a method has been yet insufficient to achieve various color expressions.
Accordingly, it has been impossible to fully satisfy the various requirements described above, in particular, the requirement (5) by the prior art only.